1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system and in particular, to a method and apparatus for presenting information in a data processing system. Still more particularly, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for providing a user interface to magnify information based on context.
2. Description of Related Art
An important characteristic of modern computing systems is the interface between a user and the computer. Early interactive interfaces were text based wherein a user communicated with the computer by typing a sequence of characters on a keyboard and the computer communicated with the user by displaying characters on an output devicexe2x80x94commonly a display screen. These input characters specified a command to the computer""s operating system or to an application program executing on the computer. This command invokes program logic to perform a given operation. Modern computer systems use a image user interface (GUI) to simplify the interaction between a user and a computer. A GUI equipped computer communicates with a user by displaying graphics, including text and icons, on a display screen and the user communicates with the machine both by typing in textual information in response to dialogs and by manipulating the displayed icons with a pointing device, such as a mouse.
Many modern GUIs provide a window environment. In a typical window environment, the image display portrayed on the display screen is arranged to resemble the surface of an electronic xe2x80x9cdesktopxe2x80x9d and each application program running on the computer is represented as one or more electronic xe2x80x9cpaper sheetsxe2x80x9d displayed as rectangular regions on the display screen. These rectangular regions are called xe2x80x9cwindowsxe2x80x9d. Each window may include a multitude of panes, with each pane being an area for a particular type of information (textual, still image, moving image, etc.).
Each window displays information generated by an associated application or system program. Further, several windows may be simultaneously present on the desktop with each containing information generated by a program. A program presents information to the user through each window by drawing or xe2x80x9cpaintingxe2x80x9d images, graphics or text within the window. The user also can move a window to a different location on the display screen and change its size and appearance to arrange the desktop in a convenient manner. The user communicates with the program by xe2x80x9cpointing atxe2x80x9d objects displayed in the window with a cursor controlled by a pointing device and manipulating the objects as desired. In some cases, the program requests additional information from the user in response to a manipulation. This request is presented as a xe2x80x9cdialogxe2x80x9d that allows the user to provide the requested information to the dialog from the keyboard.
With these windows, information is presented in a image fashion. Text may be presented in different font types and different font sizes between windows and within the same window. For example, one window may represent a browser program used to view web pages from different sources on the Internet. A web page may contain text in different fonts, font sizes, and colors. Comprehension of information through graphic user interfaces may be difficult for users who have disabilities, such as visual or hearing disabilities. For example, for visually impaired users, a need is present to enlarge certain portions of a computer screen, especially portions containing text having a relatively small font size.
Presently, some tools are available for magnifying portions of the screen for a user. These tools, however, typically magnify a portion of the screen without regard to the type of content, including the size of the text or image. In other words, equal magnification is provided regardless of the font size of the text. Further, the magnification is often accomplished using pixel amplification in which pixels are duplicated to create a larger image. This process is performed without changing the resolution, resulting in jagged edges in the text. This type of magnification often does not increase the readability of the text being magnified or the details of the image.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an improved method and apparatus for magnifying objects displayed in a data processing system.
The present invention provides a method and apparatus in a data processing system for presenting a set of objects within the data processing system. Responsive to detecting movement of a pointer over an object within the set of objects, an object type is identified for the object. Presentation of the object is then magnified based on the object type.